The Volkswagen E-Up is the company?s first all-electric production car, with styling changes over the standard petrol version including LED daytime running lights, revised bumpers and side skirts, blue-backed VW badges and 15-inch alloy wheels.The interior sees minor changes, too.

The E-Up has an electric range of "up to 150km" according to the brand, with the car?s electric motor producing a maximum of 60kW of power and 210Nm of torque, well up on the 1.0-litre petrol model?s outputs of 55kW/95Nm. Its 0-100km/h time is on the sluggish side, at "within 14 seconds", and the E-Up?s top speed is 135km/h.

Despite its heavy battery pack underneath the floor of the car, the E-Up is still quite light, with a kerb weight of 1185 kilograms - almost 300 kilograms lighter than the similarly sized Renault Zoe.

As with the French model, the E-Up can attain an 80 per cent charge in less than half an hour from a fast-charge station, and the E-Up features a modular charging system that can cope with varied levels of charge from different outlets.

Anyone hoping for a plug-in Up in Australia, however, may need to wait a while.

"As we?ve said in the past, we have no plans at this stage to bring an electric car to the market," says Volkswagen Australia spokesman Kurt McGuiness.